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Filter articles published since 2015 by topic, disease, or article type.

Guidlines for filtering

Results are filtered to show all matching articles from a particular category, and to show only articles that match all selected categories.

For instance, if "Biomarkers" and "Genetics" are selected in the Topic category, and "Multiple sclerosis" is selected in the Disease category, all results that match EITHER the Biomarkers OR Genetics Topic category will be shown, but only if they also match the Multiple sclerosis Disease category; i.e. Boolean search of [("Biomarkers" OR "Genetics") AND "multiple sclerosis"]

Now, a research team led by Stanford University School of Medicine’s Daria Mochly-Rosen in California report that reducing excess mitochondrial fission may protect motor neurons against ALS – at least in a mouse model of the disease. The study found that sustained treatment with a peptide inhibitor of the activated fission regulator Drp1, after symptom onset (day 90) significantly reduced muscle atrophy, improved motor function and increased survival of G93A SOD1 mice.

The results build on previous studies from the Stanford team which found that the approach reduced neuron loss in mouse models of Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease (Guo et al., 2013; Qi et al., 2013).

The approach is based on previous studies, which suggest that increased fragmentation of mitochondria, due to increased fission, contributes to neurological diseases including ALS (for review, see Gao et al., 2017).

The findings suggest that restoring mitochondrial dynamics in neurons may be a potential strategy to treat at least some neurological diseases.

The study appeared on January 15 in EMBO Molecular Medicine.

Meanwhile, University of Iowa’s Stefan Strack is developing a similar strategy in hopes to protect neurons against peripheral diabetic neuropathy (see December 2017 conference news). The small molecule-based strategy, which is being developed in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, is ongoing. Stay tuned.

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Filter articles published since 2015 by topic, disease, or article type.

Guidlines for filtering

Results are filtered to show all matching articles from a particular category, and to show only articles that match all selected categories.

For instance, if "Biomarkers" and "Genetics" are selected in the Topic category, and "Multiple sclerosis" is selected in the Disease category, all results that match EITHER the Biomarkers OR Genetics Topic category will be shown, but only if they also match the Multiple sclerosis Disease category; i.e. Boolean search of [("Biomarkers" OR "Genetics") AND "multiple sclerosis"]